Smart Car tipping: The history of a prank trend

San Franciscans woke up Monday morning to find four Smart Cars tipped over in separate neighborhoods, sparking the question of whether this is a coordinated campaign against the ultra-compact vehicles or just a nefarious pranking spree.

Although unprecedented in the Bay Area as far as we can tell, vandalism against Smart Cars is nothing new. An easy target for vandals due to their light weight, Smart Cars have been tipped, flipped and dumped into canals in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.

Although the earliest recorded case of Smart Car tipping goes back to 2005 in Canada, the history of Smart Car vandalism technically starts in Amsterdam around 2009. There have been a number of cases in which Dutch delinquents dumped Smart Cars into the canals, irreparably damaging the vehicles. With a low guardrail as the only line of defense from cars diving into canals, the Amsterdam police didn’t even publicize the craze for fear of copy-cat car dumpers.

Canada was close behind the Netherlands in having mischievous fun with Smart Cars. A man in Edmonton was charged with mischief as he tipped over a Smart Car in front of amused bystanders. During the Vancouver riots in 2011, witnesses caught video of people tipping over a Smart Car.

The trend moved south to the United States soon after. Smart Car damages were reported in Seattle and Indianapolis. Now on Monday, San Francisco became the latest witness to the Smart Car tipping fad.

Some people have found humor — for creative and rather cynical reasons — in the latest spree. Do you think Smart Car tipping in San Francisco is a one-time thing or is it here to stay?